


Moving in with Tommy Shepherd

by Hieiandshino



Series: you let your body burn like never before [4]
Category: Marvel, Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616, Young Avengers
Genre: Gen, Male-Female Friendship, Tommy/Kate week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-19
Updated: 2013-05-19
Packaged: 2017-12-12 08:32:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/809498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hieiandshino/pseuds/Hieiandshino
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>The last straw, however, was Billy sitting down with Kate and asking her what were her intentions with his twin brother. She did walk out from this conversation because,</i> what.</p>
<p>(Tommy/Kate week, Day Four: Friendship. Unrevised work)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Moving in with Tommy Shepherd

**Author's Note:**

> Marvel (all media types) does not belong to me.
> 
> This fanfic is set after this arc of _Young Avengers v2_.
> 
> English isn’t my first language and this fanfic wasn’t revised by my beta. In other words: there will be mistakes.

“I still can’t believe you’re going to do this.” Eli sighs again, exasperated. “You declined my invitation, but not his—”

“—But his invitation was actually mine.” Kate says while finishing putting the last box in her purple Beetle. It’s her costume box and that’s why it’s coming with her during the ride. “I really appreciate you’re here, Eli.”

“I don’t like this situation. I don’t know if he’ll try anything with you.”

Kate can only smirk. “He won’t and we both know it. You trust him too much to actually mean what you said, but if you have your doubts, you know what I’ll do to him if he tries anything.” Before, she couldn’t say the same. But now, after Clint, after Madame Masque, after Billy’s spell that brought the Young Avengers back into business? Now she knows she is capable enough of castrating whoever who tries something that she doesn’t want. “Also, I have my boyfriend. One call and Noh-Varr’ll break Tommy’s back if necessary.”

Eli makes a face and Kate only smiles. _Bingo_. She would never call a guy to defend her honor, but Eli is being immature and she knows he, even if not comfortable with the whole ‘living with Tommy’ thing, he likes it better than the whole ‘dating Noh-Varr’ thing.

“I’d rather see you dating Tommy.” He answers, clearly not over what Noh-Varr did to them when they first met the Runaways. Then again, there was that terrible time when he got involved with Norman Osborn’s Avengers and he may or may not have betrayed Earth during the conflict between the Avengers and X-Men, but, hey, everyone deserves second chances — even if a lot of them.

Besides, Kate likes him. He is cute. “I know.” She kisses Eli on the cheek. “Now be a good friend and enter on the car. Tommy’s waiting for us.”

Eli only smiles. “I’ll drive.”

“The hell you will.”

.

Tommy’s apartment is nice. Kate is actually surprised to see this. The neighborhood isn’t the best and it looks ridiculous _bad_ from the outside, but inside is nice and pretty clean. Well, for someone who has more time than the average population, Tommy gets bored so easily he must clean the place a lot of times during the day.

“Where did you find this place?” Eli asks, surprised.

Tommy just shrugs. “I run a lot so I know which places are vacant and which places are not. Then it was just waste my time and see a nice place with a bad neighbor and a good price.”

“Awesome.” Kate says. “I already know what to do after I come back from college.”

Eli makes a face that says he shouldn’t be surprised by those two anymore, but can’t help himself. “Oh God, you two should marry already.” He mumbles while sits on the couch. “So, what are your plans?”

“Well, we can help Kate move in completely and then go to the movies.” Tommy answers, scratching his head a little and looking around the room, now full of boxes. “I took the day off, so things’ll be pretty slow here.”

Kate frowns. “Can you even sit for a bunch of hours and enjoy a movie?”

He rolls his eyes. “Sure. It just has to be pretty good.”

“So, we are going to watch Argo, that’s it?” Eli asks but he is smiling. Tommy answers right away: “But of course.”

.

Kate has to admit: she thought it wouldn’t work out. Tommy is a jerk in his good days and she is way too busy to actually try to be understanding with his childishness, but they find their harmony in a matter of weeks. Kate goes to college and on missions with Clint and with the Young Avengers, so she barely stays at home, while Tommy works and studies at night to finish his high school. He’ll finish it this year and he has good grades to enter any college he wants. The fact Tommy can ask for Hank McCoy, Hank Pym, Reed Richards or Tony Stark to write his recommendation letter is just a plus, and Tony already said he’ll pay for his college if Tommy wants, but everyone knows he’ll probably try paying on his own before asking for help.

Between all this, however, he still has the time to clean the apartment and to patrol the neighborhood, just like Kate does sometimes, which makes them everyone’s favorite superheroes. The landlady of their building likes to bring them enough food so neither of them starves or need to cook. Kate likes that.

They barely see each other, except on the weekends or when they decide to have a day off from everything. Eli is with them those times.

For that reason, it takes a little for Kate to notice people don’t quite understand what they are doing. Her sister, for example, got surprised when she came to visit and Kate told her Tommy was on a date ( _sure, she was also surprised because their apartment wasn’t a crappy one and was sort of_ ‘cozy’). “But isn’t he your boyfriend?”

It took Kate long enough to explain how she knew two different people with the same color of hair and that she was dating one and living with the other. Then, America came at her and asked if the fact she is in a polyamory relationship wouldn’t ruin the team’s dynamic, because if Noh-Varr and her fought because of Tommy, things would be pretty messy and the rest of the team members would have to choose sides. When Kate asked her about what polyamory relationship, wide eyes and mouth close to the ground, Chavez actually gave her a blank stare and said to not fuck things up.

Clint and Jessica did the same questions, too. Except they were arguing about whom Kate was actually dating and when she answered it was Noh-Varr, Clint had to ask why she was living with Tommy then. Then they started arguing about how a guy could have lady friends without sleeping with her with Jessica dropping hints of Clint’s relationship with Cherry-whatshername. The last straw, however, was Billy sitting down with Kate and asking her what were her intentions with his twin brother. She did walk out from this conversation because, _what_.

That’s why today, when both are studying for tests, Kate stops making notes and looks at Tommy until he makes a noise, acknowledging he is hearing her. “Do you think it’s weird for us to be friends without benefits?” She asks and Tommy looks at her from his side of the couch, kind of glad for this conversation. He is finishing a book he needs to read, but he is taking too long so it must be boring. When Kate reads the title, she doesn’t blame him.

“I’ll say ‘yes’ if that’s enough for you to sleep with me.”

Kate grabs the first thing she sees and throws at him. It ends being the remote, that he catches midair and changes the channel. Shit, she took a while to take it from him and his super speed. “I mean it, Tommy.”

He looks at the ceiling for a moment, thinking, and then looks back at her. “No. I mean, I don’t know about you, but I had many lady friends I didn’t sleep with.”

“That _lived_ with you? Because we are living together and everyone thinks we are kind of together and I want to understand _why._ ”

Tommy smirks and goes back to his book. Ten seconds barely pass and he is already changing the pages. A lot. When he apparently finishes this chapter, he closes it and puts it next to him on the couch. “I think it’s because we are young and we kind of had a thing going on when we were fifteen. Also, we do flirt a lot with each other.”

“We had a thing? We flirt a lot?” Now she is sounding skeptical, but it’s the truth. She doesn’t remember any of that.

“We went out that night and we kissed. Then we stole the Avengers.” Tommy clarifies. “And yes, we flirt.”

Kate crosses her arms on her chest and smirks at him. “Yeah, I remember. Then you left me when we got busted.”

Tommy waves at her, dismissively. “Details.”

“Alright. But I don’t remember any flirting.”

“‘Honey, do you want something from the market?’” Tommy starts, smirking and it makes Kate blush. Oh, dear, they _do_ flirt. “Okay, stop it.” She says, but it’s no good. He then makes a thin voice to mimic Kate’s tone. It’s annoying and so unlike her, and yet she remembers this conversation: “‘Sure, you in a pink apron and on your—’”

“—We flirt, oh God, stop it, _we flirt, okay?_ ” She says, practically screaming, and Tommy laughs. It sounded like something funny to say at the time, and it’s still funny but… _They flirt_. _How didn’t I notice that before?_ , she asks herself, blushing now of embarrassment and hoping he never tells anyone about this.

Tommy laughs a little more and looks at her with big happy eyes. God, she loves him very much. Just not the way everyone thinks. “Look, Kate. I don’t know what people say about us, but I can guarantee it isn’t weird. It’s like… Tony and Carol? Because they never slept together, I think? Or, uhh, you and Eli, now that you two aren’t an item anymore. Or, I don’t know, me and Cassie? Yep, me and Cassie. We were friends, we interacted a lot but she was just my friend that dated a guy who had the codename and the programs of the guy who was supposed to my father.” He stops. “Kinda?” Then, he makes a face. “I suck at making comparisons, alright? But it’s kind of like this.”

Kate smiles. She tries very hard to only smirk at him, but it’s difficult. Next time someone asks her how she can live with a guy she kissed before without having anything with him, she’ll say exactly this: he is funny and he makes her smile.

“So we are friends with the benefit of not having benefits?”

“I guess. Kinda?”

Kate laughs. “So you don’t think we’ll sleep together in the future.”

Tommy looks affronted now. “Of course we will! What? Aw, c’mon Katie! You can’t actually think what we have will last forever, right? I’m too hot for you to put me on your friendly friendzone.”

Kate rolls her eyes, the feelings of strong friendship and companionship just gone because Tommy is good at that at ruining things. “You _jerk_. Just for the record, we’re never going to have sex.”

.

Before she finishes college, they do.

**Author's Note:**

> Just passing by to say that the fact they have sex later doesn’t change their relationship: they kind of friendzoned each other in the end and the sex was just to prove it.
> 
> Also, I'm sorry abou the late in posting this one. I was very busy ;/


End file.
